Doctors of Pompeii
by fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: Rory accidently ended up in Pompeii. As did some not so familiar faces. Well, at least he's not involved in whatever chaos is about to follow.


"Amy?"

The girl looked around. No, she had to be.

No, she couldn't be.

But she was.

But she wasn't.

But...

Dear Jupiter, what have you gotten yourself into Rory Williams?

* * *

><p>Really, he needed to move. He'd just found out where he was and it wasn't good. At all. But she looked like Amy. She really, really looked like Amy.<p>

But Amy was in the Pandorica.

So who on Earth was running around Pompeii?

Rory almost walked into the familiar blue box. He blinked.

"Er, okay. You're here."

"Pudding brain! Away! I don't like soldiers."

"Sorry, I'm not actually, it's complicated."

"Rory Williams?"

"Yes. Have we, I mean, have we met?"

"Doctor!" a short brunette ran up to the older man.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, hello Rory."

"You're the Doctor?"

"That's not the question Rory."

"No, the question is what on Earth happened to the bow tie wearing mad man?"

"He regenerated," the girl said. "He's still mad. Also puns. I'm Clara Oswald by the way."

"Rory Williams."

"A Roman."

"Not quite. I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting."

"Not the only time he's died either. Bad habit Rory, you should get out of it. No, the question is, how are you here?"

"I walked. The Pandorica's hidden here too."

"You know this is Pompeii, don't you?" Clara asked. "Doctor, I found that family you were after. They said they'll play along. The husband's got something to do with marble, but he passed away a few months ago, no one's caught on yet to the fact the wife's been doing all the stuff but they're expecting a visit tomorrow and they really need a Lucius Caecilius there."

"What are you doing here?"

"Now, you see that, Rory always asks the right questions."

"You just told me I didn't."

"Shush. I am here Rory because I remember this face being here before. But you were in the universe before it blew up."

"It blows up?"

"Shush. I fixed it. But how can you be here? Are there stars Rory?"

"Erm, kind of. They're going out. But I can still sometimes see them. Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Like that girl earlier, I thought she was Amy."

"Something very strange is going on Rory."

"You mean stranger than dying, turning into a Roman and the universe ending because some idiot crashed his TARDIS?"

"It wasn't me, I'm not even in it. I wasn't then either, River was. And yes. Stranger than that. For I am in the reset universe but we seem to be at a weak point where the old is showing through."

"Right. Do you know what he's talking about Clara?"

"Rarely. He's not good at this. Bad enough with the timings."

"Oh, I know. Twelve years. Oh, er, sorry about punching you."

"You punched him?"

"He said Amy wasn't important."

"Amy again. You mentioned Amy before. Who is she?"

"My fiancée."

"Amelia. First face, remember Clara?"

"Yeah. You mentioned her."

"Ah, the Ponds. I have missed you Rory Pond."

"Amy and I are going to get married then. Spoilers Doctor. I'd ask what happened to us, but again, spoilers."

"Well done Rory. This is why I liked you. One of the lesser pudding brains of the pudding brains."

"Still rude then," Rory said to Clara.

"Yeah. At least he hasn't been going on about his attack eyebrows yet."

"At least he's got eyebrows. Last time they just seemed to disappear."

"They were delicate and now I have a very fine set of eyebrows to make up for it."

"Yeah. About this Amy look alike."

"She's a Roman soothsayer communicating with Pyroviles inside Vesuvius."

"Not important then."

"Other than the fact that when- hide!" He pushed them behind the TARDIS. "Oh good, it's not them. See, I was here before. Now, I must find these people, Clara, can you help Rory hide the TARDIS with the Pandorica?"

"Using the telepathic circuits again?"

"Yes. Don't get distracted."

"Oh, new layout," Rory said, walking in. "Nice. I like the comfy chair and the bookcase, nice touch."

"Thank you."

"He was going to have more round things, forgot where he put them," Clara said.

"Shush. Clara, over here. Rory, where did you leave the Pandorica?"

"Doctor, would it not be easier for Rory to use the telepathic circuits to think of the Pandorica?"

"Good point. Rory, hands in that."

"What is this?"

"TARDIS telepathic circuits. Think of the Pandorica and only the Pandorica. Don't get distracted."

"Got it."

Rory heard the familiar sound and a large black box appeared as they materialised around it.

"So that's how you get things that are bigger than the door in," Clara said. "I was starting to wonder."

"And to Rome," the Doctor declared.

"Rome?" Rory asked as the Doctor piloted them elsewhere. "Well, I might as well see the sights while I'm here. I'll make sure to get out before it all goes up in smoke."

"Er, yes. That wasn't anything to do with me."

"Until you said that, I didn't think it was."

"I'll explain later. Right now, I have to return to Pompeii so I can do something, meet myself and see Donna again. Clara, remember exactly where this is, dear, I need you to drop her off back here with Rory while I do this."

"Dear?"

"I think he's talking to the TARDIS."

"Right."

Rory watched as the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving him and the Pandorica in the middle of Rome. That was one way to avoid using the door.

Clara and the TARDIS returned a few moments later.

"So. How's traveling with the Doctor?"

"Terrifying. But amazing. You enjoyed it then?"

"Well, I haven't done an awful lot yet. I suppose there's more in my future. Which is weird. Because I died. My life is confusing."

"Tell me about it. I jumped into his time stream to stop someone killing him and ended up as echoes across his time line."

"Remember any of them?"

"I get flashes sometimes. I think one of them met you, but yeah, spoilers."

"Well, if I'm still with him I'm assuming we get Amy back all right, so that's all I really needed to know."

"He's mentioned her a couple of times. Is she tall?"

"Yes."

"So at least once he mentioned her because he was insulting my height."

"Scottish. That's new."

"It's his excuse to complain about things."

"He already did. Is he any better at planning?"

"A little. He is different, but there's somethings which are the same."

"You were with him when he changed?"

"I was. I was scared. Everything was new. And he was old. It was horrible, if he was new, why was he already old?"

"He's always been old. But inside he's just a kid."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"So, I guess you're stuck here for a couple of days. You know, with him being in Pompeii until volcano day."

"Oh, great. I was supposed to spend this evening marking."

"You're still living a life outside him? Good on you. Keeping up a job and travelling. Maybe one day I could."

"Maybe. He's good at dropping me back off where I started. Not so great at timing though. He only turns up at inconvenient moments it seems."

"Well, while we're here, I'm sure it can't hurt to do a little sight-seeing. I'm assuming you've never been to Rome?"

"Nope."

"I don't think I have. It's a little confusing. Might know my way around a bit though. Erm, the TARDIS and the Pandorica, erm…"

"They should be fine."

"Well, if we're only gone a few hours then nothing much can happen. With the Pandorica inside the TARDIS, she can look out for Amy, can't you?"

"I think she likes you."

"Maybe. Weird, I have an image of a woman in my head nodding."

"Maybe it's the TARDIS."

"Maybe. Come along then Clara. Let's go explore Ancient Rome."

* * *

><p>The Doctor arrived four days later with a dazed look on his face. Rory and Clara both asked him what happened, but all he said was he'd seen an old friend he never thought he would see again.<p>

Rory waved Clara and the Doctor off and returned to guarding the Pandorica until, as the Doctor had told him, 1996. So only a thousand and a bit more years. He's find something to occupy himself with.

He didn't bring up the meeting to the Doctor when the universe rebooted, spoilers and all, but he did mention it to Amy after the Dalek Asylum.

"It was her, I know it was."

"You think it was his future companion?"

"She said she'd been splintered across his time line, Oswin Oswald, Clara Oswald, pretty sure it was her."

"You ditched me to go sight-seeing around Ancient Rome with her?"

"Well, you were bad company at the time."

"Rory, it's fine. It's Ancient Rome."

"Oh yeah, did I tell you about how the Doctor was somehow responsible for it burning down? Not directly, but he was."

"So what, he gave Nero the idea or something?"

"Probably accidently."

"We can't tell him about this, can we?"

"No. As River would say, spoilers."

"Something she gets from you apparently."

"It seems so."

"Go on then. Tell me everything you did in those four days."

"Well, we talked about our adventures under the solemn oath not to discuss them with the Doctor. Well, she could, I couldn't."

"And you don't know what happened to us?"

"He was several hundred years in his future Amy, you know we couldn't hang around forever. He's weaning himself off us right now. It'll be over one day. We'll settle down and he'll find himself Clara and start all over again."

"As long as he's happy. But there was a girl identical to me in Pompeii?"

"Probably a relative or something."

"That would be interesting to find out, wouldn't it?"

"Yes it would. But we can't go back there again. Three Doctors in one place? Paradoxes."

"Yeah, the universe ending is not something I would particularly like to repeat."

"Probably not a good idea."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Just an idea that maybe Twelve was Caecilius. Bit of nonsense really. But with Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillian in that episode, it just kind of happened. <strong>

**I don't work for the BBC and I don't pay TV license just yet (give it a couple of years), so no owning of Doctor Who for me, even if it is by quite a long shot and doesn't exactly count.**

**Thanks for reading! (Please tell us why Twelve actually looks like Caecilius Steven Moffat!)**


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